Apollo was not as popular at the time as commonly remembered.
>Polls both by USA Today and Gallup have shown support for the moon landing has increased the farther we've gotten away from it. 77 percent of people in 1989 thought the moon landing was worth it; only 47 percent felt that way in 1979.
>Consistently throughout the 1960s a majority of Americans did not believe Apollo was worth the cost, with the one exception to this a poll taken at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969. And consistently throughout the decade 45-60 percent of Americans believed that the government was spending too much on space, indicative of a lack of commitment to the spaceflight agenda.
I think support has a lot to do with reporting and the stories we tell. The economy has an impact too. In 1969 we had a great story to tell, it was all over the news and everyone was paying attention. In 1979, the economy was crap and there probably wasn't the money to spend. In 1989 the economy was doing well. 1989 also saw 5 shuttle missions, again lots of news. From your link - "Americans might not have supported the space program in real life, but they loved the one they saw on TV."
>Polls both by USA Today and Gallup have shown support for the moon landing has increased the farther we've gotten away from it. 77 percent of people in 1989 thought the moon landing was worth it; only 47 percent felt that way in 1979.
>Consistently throughout the 1960s a majority of Americans did not believe Apollo was worth the cost, with the one exception to this a poll taken at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969. And consistently throughout the decade 45-60 percent of Americans believed that the government was spending too much on space, indicative of a lack of commitment to the spaceflight agenda.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/moond...